More of the same please, says Pritch

5:32pm Friday 10th January 2014

By Andrew Simpson

BRIAN Pritchard will warn Witton’s players to not to assume their fortunes have improved following their win at Chorley in midweek.

Albion progressed to the Doodson Sport League Cup’s last 16 after a comfortable 4-1 win against their Premier Division rivals, their first victory since beating lower-ranked Curzon Ashton in the previous round last month.

But the manager says he still needs convincing an improved run of results will follow.

“I’m not now under an illusion that everything is ok again,” he added.

“We did a professional job, and probably should have scored more goals than we did.

“Of course it was important to win, particularly as we hadn’t for a while previously, and I learned a little bit more about where we are in terms of mentally.

“I know Chorley will claim that they played a weakened team, but that didn’t matter to us in terms of what we were trying to achieve. We weren’t at full strength either.”

Witton, five points adrift of a position of safety, now play back-to-back matches against teams closest to them in the Premier Division table.

First up is a trip to Frickley Athletic, when Pritchard will pick the team for the 150th time since taking sole charge.

“The players are happy and the mood is good after winning and scoring on Tuesday,” he said.

“Chris Simm got his first goal for us, and looked sharp – he’s also the first forward to score from open play in a couple of months.

“We played well to win at Frickley last season, and we’ll need to approach this game with a similar attitude.

“I don’t expect it to be defensive, as a win will help both teams at the moment.”

He expects Cliff Moyo to have recovered from an ankle injury that forced him off during the first half at Victory Park, while teenage midfielder Josh Crofts should be available again after illness.